North House Folk School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411878887
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Grand Marais, MN, USA
Phone
2183879762
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,604,563
Expenses
$3,113,150
Assets
$10,082,550
Liabilities
$1,639,541

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MIKE PROM (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • GREG WRIGHT (EXECUTIVE DI): $105,706 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To enrich lives and build community by teaching traditional northern crafts in a student-centered learning environment that inspires the hands, heart and mind.

What it reported doing in 2025

North house is fortunate to work with a key funding partner as part of its communtiy of craft initiative which actively offers professional development opportunities for the traditional craft artisans who teach or collaborate with the school. These efforts include: an annual instructor retreat featuring courses, seminars, peer engagement and planning sessions; a ten-month traditional craft program internship designed to engage post- college participants interested in education and nonprofit administration; a two-year artisan development program to advance the potential of emerging artisans; and professional staff leadership for both our year-round curriculum and instructor partnerships. North house works annually with 200+ artisans at all levels of development.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 63
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.4%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 73.4%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13.6%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.24; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.4%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.2% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.3% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.4% of revenue deployed · 73.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $106K · 19 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 29/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.